A Republican lawmaker’s proposal to expand income tax cuts beyond those initially proposed by Gov. Scott Walker would mostly benefit taxpayers making more than $100,000, a nonpartisan analysis released Monday found.

The average tax cut for 2015 under the proposal would be nearly $300, compared to the $83 average for an average taxpayer under Walker’s plan, according to the analysis. [...]

The report came as Republicans who control the Legislature wrangled over major budget items in closed door meetings, negotiating last-minute deals on cutting income taxes, expanding private voucher school programs, funding public schools and rejecting a federally funded Medicaid expansion.

Sometimes I get so frustrated and/or disheartened and/or annoyed by some of the news stories of the day that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that made my blood pressure hit the roof. I am avoiding delving into them at length out of concern for my physical and mental health:

Two conclusions can be made: that he agreed with these cuts at the time, or that he negotiated in bad faith, planning to undo the cuts that he didn't like at a later date.

McKeon infers from President Obama's behavior that the administration wishes to “hollow out” the U.S. military.

I infer from McKeon's behavior that he wishes to protect a small number of defense contractors (that donated large sums to his campaign) at the expense of the large number of average citizens in his district who benefit from social programs.

Richard OlmsteadVan Nuys

***

McKeon mentions the president's proposals to avert sequestration, then goes on to blame Obama for all the ills that sequestration will visit on the military. Huh?

He also whines about previous cuts to the military budget, despite the fact that one GOP-initiated war has been wound down and the second is in the process of being ended.

The Republicans can't have it both ways — either focus on the budget cuts and suck up the pain, or work with the president to find alternatives.

Enough with the hypocrisy.Brent VanderwoodMission Viejo

***

Dear Congressman: You may be absolutely right about what may happen to the military and to civilian jobs because of the sequester. You may also be absolutely right that it really was a “dangerous experiment.”

But I did not think that Republicans would care so much for cutting budgets that they would rather destroy the country.

People have figured out what Republicans want: Cut taxes for the rich and, in that fight, if the country goes to the dogs, it is Obama's fault.

I am a small-business owner. Can you tell me what you have really done for us? If more people had money, I would have more customers. I do not make money when only the rich can afford my products and there are not enough people in the middle who can.

Sam MookerjeeCanoga Park

***

If one were to look at the yea and nay votes in the House on the sequestration bill, one would see that McKeon voted in favor.

So now my elected representative is blaming the president for the sequestration problem? Doesn't sound to me like the party of “personal responsibility” is capable of taking any.

Doug KimballLancaster

***

The sequester is wrong, but McKeon's solution is absurd.

The Republican bill passed in the last session would cut deeply into programs for the poorest in our country to maintain a level of military spending that dwarfs the rest of the world's.

Now, while we are in a recovery period from the recession, is not the time to be cutting spending. We should have a short-term stimulus package coupled with a long-term tax reform and spending package.

We do need to do something to control the cost of Medicare in the long term; the healthcare law is starting to address this issue.

Job creation in Wisconsin slowed markedly between July and September, according to the most recent available government data deemed credible by economists. [...]

Friday's report also contained the weakest reading since the 12 months of September 2009 to September 2010 - a period that overlapped with the last recession. [...]

The last time that Wisconsin appeared in a national ranking of the Quarterly Census, it was for the 12 months through June 2012. Then, Wisconsin ranked 42 out of the 50 states in private-sector job creation, a decline from a rank of 37 in the previous period, from March 2011 to March 2012.

That makes Wisconsin a laggard in job creation even by the glacial standards of the national recovery, which has moved far too slowly to absorb the millions of unemployed left over from the 2007-'09 recession.

See how well union busting and austerity work?

According to the Wisconsin State Journal and an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy done for the Wisconsin Budget Project, Walker's full of crap. But then we already knew that.